Monday, May 20, 2013
North Korean take on "American Lifestyle"
An alleged North Korean propaganda video has emerged online that claims Americans drink 'hot snow' as coffee, live in tents and eat wild birds on Tuesdays
The four-minute film portrays people in the U.S. as living in extreme poverty, who are lucky to have a floor to sleep on and live on a diet of 'local snow'.
The supposedly North Korean narrator - 'translated' on the film by a British man - tells viewers: 'This is how Americans live today.'
The 'propaganda' film has already been viewed thousands of times in the three days since it was uploaded.
It features clips of poverty, cold and hardship. The narrator tells viewers: 'This is how they live in modern day. Huddled together - the poor, the cold, the lonely and the homosexuals.'
The bizarre video appears to use footage from the aftermath of natural disasters filmed around the world.
Many of the clips seem to have been shot in Europe, and Paris' famous Gard de Nord station is seen in one image.
But the narrator explains this as other parts of America that 'disguise' themselves as foreign cities.
Either way she says they live a 'terrible life'.
It is said that Americans have to live in tents donated by North Korea and take handouts of snow coffee because their houses 'blow down easily.'
Among the fantastical claims made in the video are that Americans have eaten the bird population almost to extinction.
The 'yummy birds' that remain in the trees will be eaten on Tuesday, according to the narrator.
When the film shows a man walking through the snow in what appears to be Paris, the narrator says: 'This man is a former Republican candidate for Oregon who is now having to get coffee made of snow.'
The video also features two elderly men sitting on a bench surrounded by plastic bags.
The narrator tells viewers: 'These people lie huddled together with their dead friends in blue body bags with their coffee cups full of local snow.
'They are very good friends that are together in adversity.'
The video also accuses Americans of being obsessed with weaponry and buy 'guns to kill each other especially children.'
Last month, Pyongyang released a clip on Uriminzokkiri - Korean for 'Our Nation' - which shows Barack Obama and American troops in flames.
If genuine, the latest video of American poverty could be an attempt to divert domestic attention away from the plight of residents, thousands of whom are believed to be starving after failed harvests.
It comes as Pyongyang released a photograph of leader Kim Jung Un, that has been compared to a Bond villain.
He was seen inspecting sturgeon in a pond at the Ryongjong Fish Farm in South Hwanghae, southwestern North Korea in the picture released by the Korean Central News Agency.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2292573/Hilarious-North-Korean-propaganda-video-depicts-modern-America.html
North Korea Political Cartoons (I)
"The Four and a Half Horsemen of the Apocalypse"
http://www.usnews.com/cartoons/north-korea-cartoons
Friday, May 10, 2013
North Korea issues threat to U.S. military
By Ben Brumfield and KJ Kwon, CNN
(CNN) -- Ahead of annual, routine military exercises between South Korea and the United States, North Korea issued its usual caustic objections Saturday.
It threatened "miserable destruction," if "your side ignites a war of aggression by staging the reckless joint military exercises ... at this dangerous time.
"Though customary, the stark posturing by North Korea stands in the shadow of an underground nuclear test two weeks ago that was preceded by the launch of a long-range missile capable of transporting a warhead.
The detonation of the nuclear charge was the third in Pyongyang's history and the first under supreme leader Kim Jong Un's rule. South Korea's military reacted with fierce military drills, including a public display of newly deployed cruise missiles with pinpoint accuracy.
It has been on heightened readiness ever since.
The test also triggered a global wave of condemnation, including from Beijing, and plans for new sanctions against Pyongyang.
North Korea issued the objections to exercises Key Resolve and Foal Eagle scheduled for March and April to U.S. commander James D. Sherman, state run news agency KCNA reported.
The message was delivered over the phone in English, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.
It also condemned the threat of new sanctions over North Korea's recent actions.
A United Nations military commission informed Pyongyang of the upcoming routine exercises, according to a joint statement from U.S. and South Korean military officials.
The commission also told North Korea that they are "not related with the current situations on the Korean Peninsula." Around 10,000 U.S. forces will participate in Foal Eagle from March 1 to April 30. Key Resolve will involve 10,000 South Korean troops and 3,500 U.S. troops in exercises March 11 to 21.
Key Resolve will include U.N. troops and neutral supervisors.
(CNN) -- Ahead of annual, routine military exercises between South Korea and the United States, North Korea issued its usual caustic objections Saturday.
It threatened "miserable destruction," if "your side ignites a war of aggression by staging the reckless joint military exercises ... at this dangerous time.
"Though customary, the stark posturing by North Korea stands in the shadow of an underground nuclear test two weeks ago that was preceded by the launch of a long-range missile capable of transporting a warhead.
The detonation of the nuclear charge was the third in Pyongyang's history and the first under supreme leader Kim Jong Un's rule. South Korea's military reacted with fierce military drills, including a public display of newly deployed cruise missiles with pinpoint accuracy.
It has been on heightened readiness ever since.
The test also triggered a global wave of condemnation, including from Beijing, and plans for new sanctions against Pyongyang.
North Korea issued the objections to exercises Key Resolve and Foal Eagle scheduled for March and April to U.S. commander James D. Sherman, state run news agency KCNA reported.
The message was delivered over the phone in English, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.
It also condemned the threat of new sanctions over North Korea's recent actions.
A United Nations military commission informed Pyongyang of the upcoming routine exercises, according to a joint statement from U.S. and South Korean military officials.
The commission also told North Korea that they are "not related with the current situations on the Korean Peninsula." Around 10,000 U.S. forces will participate in Foal Eagle from March 1 to April 30. Key Resolve will involve 10,000 South Korean troops and 3,500 U.S. troops in exercises March 11 to 21.
Key Resolve will include U.N. troops and neutral supervisors.
Monday, May 6, 2013
State media: U.S. man sentenced in North Korea not a 'bargaining chip'
(CNN) -- The case of a U.S. citizen sentenced to 15 years in a North Korean labor camp is not a "political bargaining chip," the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday.
Pae Jun Ho, known as Kenneth Bae by U.S. authorities, was arrested and prosecuted for various crimes aimed at "state subversion," KCNA said. It previously reported the Korean-American was arrested November 3 after arriving as a tourist in Rason City, a port in the northeastern corner of North Korea.
In prior instances, North Korea has released Americans in its custody after a visit by some U.S. dignitary.
But Bae's case could get caught up in the recent tensions between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as the North is formally known, and the United States.
"Whenever Americans were put under custody in the DPRK for violating the country's law, former or incumbent high-ranking American officials flew to Pyongyang and apologized for their crimes and promised to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents. Therefore, the DPRK showed generosity and set them free from the humanitarian point of view," KCNA reported, citing a foreign ministry spokesman.
"Pae's case proves that as long as the U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK remains unchanged, humanitarian generosity will be of no use in ending Americans' illegal acts."
According to the report, Bae entered North Korea "with a disguised identity." He reportedly "confessed and admitted his crimes."
"Some media of the U.S. said that the DPRK tried to use Pae's case as a political bargaining chip. This is ridiculous and wrong guess.
"The DPRK has no plan to invite anyone of the U.S. as regards Pae's issue," read the KCNA report.
Last week, the United States demanded Bae's immediate release.
"You all are aware of the history and how this has happened in the past with U.S. citizens," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters in Washington. "But what we're calling for and we're urging the DPRK authorities to do is to grant him amnesty and to allow for his immediate release, full stop."
Ventrell said the State Department was still trying to confirm details of the case through Swedish diplomats who visited Bae last week. Sweden represents U.S. interests in North Korea because Washington has no diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.
U.S. officials have struggled to establish how exactly Bae ran afoul of North Korean authorities.
Bae's sister told CNN last week that her brother is the owner of a tour company and was in North Korea for work.
He'd traveled to the country previously with no problems and had no reason to suspect that this time would be different, said Terri Chung.
"You know, Kenneth is a good man; he's not a spy. He has never had any evil intentions against North Korea, or any other country for that matter," she told CNN's Anderson Cooper 360.
North Korea is considered to have one of the most repressive penal systems in the world. Human rights groups estimate that as many as 200,000 people are being held in a network of prison camps that the regime is believed to use to crush political dissent.
North Korea says it won't warn South Korea before an attack
(CNN) -- North Korea has upped the temperature on its neighbors, warning in a
new threat that it would not give any advance notice before attacking South
Korea. "Our retaliatory action will start without any notice from now," Pyongyang
said in a statement published Tuesday by its official news agency, KCNA. North Korea said it was responding to what it called insults from the "puppet authorities" in the South, claiming that there had been a rally against North Korea in Seoul. It called the rally a "monstrous criminal act. "The renewed threats came a day after North Koreans celebrated the birthday of their country's founder, Kim Il Sung, who launched the Korean War. On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged the regime in Pyongyang
to ditch its nuclear program and put a lid on its fiery rhetoric if it wants to
hold talks. "The United States has made clear many times what the conditions are for
our entering talks and they haven't changed," Kerry said during an interview
with CNN's Jill Dougherty in Tokyo. "The conditions have to be met where the North has to move towards
denuclearization, indicate a seriousness in doing so by reducing these threats,
stop the testing, and indicate it's actually prepared to negotiate," he said
new threat that it would not give any advance notice before attacking South
Korea. "Our retaliatory action will start without any notice from now," Pyongyang
said in a statement published Tuesday by its official news agency, KCNA. North Korea said it was responding to what it called insults from the "puppet authorities" in the South, claiming that there had been a rally against North Korea in Seoul. It called the rally a "monstrous criminal act. "The renewed threats came a day after North Koreans celebrated the birthday of their country's founder, Kim Il Sung, who launched the Korean War. On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged the regime in Pyongyang
to ditch its nuclear program and put a lid on its fiery rhetoric if it wants to
hold talks. "The United States has made clear many times what the conditions are for
our entering talks and they haven't changed," Kerry said during an interview
with CNN's Jill Dougherty in Tokyo. "The conditions have to be met where the North has to move towards
denuclearization, indicate a seriousness in doing so by reducing these threats,
stop the testing, and indicate it's actually prepared to negotiate," he said
Aggressive U.S. Policies Will Reduce the North Korean Threat
First, while not abandoning the aim of nuclear rollback, the prime national
security emphasis must be on ensuring that North Korea does not transfer nuclear
materials or technologies to others—especially terrorists—and to avoid nuclear
blackmail. The Kim regime has already sold ballistic missile technology and the
U.S. must work with the international community to thwart any future sales of
these technologies of mass destruction. Worryingly in the few weeks leading up
to the nuclear test, Pyongyang was reported to have strongly hinted at threats
to transfer nuclear materials to third parties. In addition to intelligence
collection and sharing, the United States will continue to work with
international partners on programs such as the Proliferation Security Initiative
(PSI) to interdict illegal shipments. Again China will be a key partner in such
endeavors as it has an 880 mile border with the DPRK.
Second, the diplomatic pressure for Pyongyang to return to the negotiating
table—the Six Party Talks—can be underlined with targeted sanctions and rigorous
pursuit of North Korea's various illegal revenue generation schemes. China will
be wary of sanctions that could lead to military action and will attempt to
strike a balance between demonstrating its own displeasure at Kim's behaviour
and avoiding total economic collapse for fear of the potential flood of refugees
across its border. It is not clear if regime collapse and economic collapse
could be separated.
security emphasis must be on ensuring that North Korea does not transfer nuclear
materials or technologies to others—especially terrorists—and to avoid nuclear
blackmail. The Kim regime has already sold ballistic missile technology and the
U.S. must work with the international community to thwart any future sales of
these technologies of mass destruction. Worryingly in the few weeks leading up
to the nuclear test, Pyongyang was reported to have strongly hinted at threats
to transfer nuclear materials to third parties. In addition to intelligence
collection and sharing, the United States will continue to work with
international partners on programs such as the Proliferation Security Initiative
(PSI) to interdict illegal shipments. Again China will be a key partner in such
endeavors as it has an 880 mile border with the DPRK.
Second, the diplomatic pressure for Pyongyang to return to the negotiating
table—the Six Party Talks—can be underlined with targeted sanctions and rigorous
pursuit of North Korea's various illegal revenue generation schemes. China will
be wary of sanctions that could lead to military action and will attempt to
strike a balance between demonstrating its own displeasure at Kim's behaviour
and avoiding total economic collapse for fear of the potential flood of refugees
across its border. It is not clear if regime collapse and economic collapse
could be separated.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Kerry: North Korea must stop 'bucking history and common sense'
CNN Wire, April 15, 2013
Melissa Gray, CNN
Melissa Gray, CNN
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that North Korea must stop "bucking the trend of history and common sense" in continuing with its nuclear program and that any unilateral action by the North "carries too great a cost" for the world to allow it.
Kerry spoke at the end of a three-day trip that focused on securing fresh commitments from South Korea, China and Japan for denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and getting Pyongyang back to the negotiating table.
"The United States remains open to authentic and credible negotiations on denuclearization, but the burden is on Pyongyang," Kerry said in Tokyo. "Korea must take meaningful steps to show it will honor commitments it has already made" and the norms of international law.
Last month, North Korea scrapped the 1953 truce that effectively ended the Korean war and said it was nullifying the joint declaration on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
It also recently pledged to restart its Yongbyon nuclear complex, including a uranium enrichment plant and a reactor that was shut down under an agreement reached in October 2007 during talks with North Korea, the United States, and four other countries.
"The world does not need more potential for war, so we will stand together. And we welcome China's strong commitment ... to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Kerry said.
"The stakes are far too high and the global economy is far too fragile for anyone to allow these inherited problems to divide the region and inflame it."
A U.S. State Department official said Monday there are no plans to move toward direct talks, however, "because North Korea has shown no willingness to move in a positive direction."
Pyongyang was certainly paying attention to Kerry's offer of dialogue, even if it wasn't very receptive. A statement via KCNA, the state-run news agency, called the international offer a "crafty trick" and "empty words without any content."
A KCNA commentary Monday was titled, "U.S. is to blame for escalating tension on Korean Peninsula."
Kerry's trip finishes on one of the biggest dates on the North Korean calendar: "The Day of the Sun," when citizens celebrate the birthday of the country's late founder and "eternal president," Kim Il Sung. This year marks his 101st birthday.
Current leader Kim Jong Un paid tribute Monday to Kim Il Sung, his grandfather, as well as his late father, Kim Jong Il, visiting the halls where both men lie in state. It was believed to be Kim's first public appearance in two weeks.
Amid the pageantry, patriotism and festive images being played on North Korean state television Monday, many around the world wonder whether this will also be the day North Korea decides to launch a missile, perhaps in a show of bravado after weeks of nuclear threats.
Some scholars say a launch is still possible, if not Monday, then in the coming days. CNN Correspondent Kyung Lah reports from Seoul that because April 15 is the founder's birthday, North Korea would not conduct a missile launch then with the possibility of failure hanging over them.
Pyongyang made good on its promise to launch a long-range rocket around the time of Kim Il Sung's birthday last year; the rocket broke apart after launch and fell into the sea.
North Korea has made more threats since then. It launched a rocket in December that apparently put a satellite into orbit, and in response, the U.N. Security council approved broadening sanctions against the country.
Angered by those sanctions, Pyongyang announced in January it was planning a new nuclear test and more long-range rocket launches as part what it called a new phase of confrontation with the United States.
It carried out an underground nuclear bomb test in February, and last month, Pyongyang threatened for the first time to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States and South Korea.
The North also threatened to attack U.S. and South Korean bases.
Tomb visit hardens defiant Kim
NORTH Korea ignored fresh offers of dialogue from the US and Japan as it marked
the birth date of Kim Il-sung with an official visit by dictator Kim Jong-un to
his grandfather's tomb.
Predictions the young leader would mark the 101st anniversary of Kim
Il-sung's birth -- known as the Day of the Sun in the family-run dictatorship --
with a missile launch proved incorrect.
The North has a habit of linking high-profile military tests with key
dates, and expectations were high of a medium-range missile test to coincide
with the birthday celebrations for its late founder. Unlike last year, there was
no giant military parade in central Pyongyang, and no speech by the young
Kim.
Rather, tour group leaders and correspondents in Pyongyang described a
festive atmosphere as the residents of the city -- largely privileged elites --
enjoyed a national holiday.
As US Secretary of State John Kerry made another offer of dialogue to
Pyongyang, North Korea's state-run media -- which had carried reports describing
South Korea's earlier offer of talks as a "cunning ploy" -- stayed silent on the
issue.
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/NewsDetailsPage/NewsDetailsWindow?failOver&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=
&mode=view&displayGroupName=News&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=
true&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=
&action=e&catId=&activity&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CA326289578
the birth date of Kim Il-sung with an official visit by dictator Kim Jong-un to
his grandfather's tomb.
Predictions the young leader would mark the 101st anniversary of Kim
Il-sung's birth -- known as the Day of the Sun in the family-run dictatorship --
with a missile launch proved incorrect.
The North has a habit of linking high-profile military tests with key
dates, and expectations were high of a medium-range missile test to coincide
with the birthday celebrations for its late founder. Unlike last year, there was
no giant military parade in central Pyongyang, and no speech by the young
Kim.
Rather, tour group leaders and correspondents in Pyongyang described a
festive atmosphere as the residents of the city -- largely privileged elites --
enjoyed a national holiday.
As US Secretary of State John Kerry made another offer of dialogue to
Pyongyang, North Korea's state-run media -- which had carried reports describing
South Korea's earlier offer of talks as a "cunning ploy" -- stayed silent on the
issue.
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/NewsDetailsPage/NewsDetailsWindow?failOver&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=
&mode=view&displayGroupName=News&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=
true&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=
&action=e&catId=&activity&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CA326289578
Editorial: United States's anti-diplomat - Dennis Rodman in North Korea
By: The Republica Editorial
No harm, no foul?
If only.
The news that Dennis Rodman, former NBA star and perpetual whackjob, had traveled to North Korea, where he met with the isolated and repressive nation’s despotic leader, Kim Jong-Un, was a surprise only initially.
Dennis Rodman as diplomat? It just didn’t add up.
But after a moment, it all made perfect sense.
When bad-actor Rodman was in the NBA, one never knew what he’d be up to next. With young Kim heading North Korea, things are much the same.
Rodman, a hardhead on the hardwood, nicknamed “the Worm,” seemed often to crave attention more than anything else. So too with Kim and his father and grandfather, the only two prior leaders of the most isolated nation on the planet.
But there are clear differences, too. Rodman, for all his oddities, was very good at his job. Few, if any, would be willing to make similar claims for Kim. And Rodman, while frequently volatile, was dangerous only within proscribed boundaries. He may have been a hothead, but he didn’t have nuclear weapons.
Everyone knows Rodman as a shameless self-promoter who has long stuck his nose rings into other people’s business. He’s never been the world’s most-diplomatic guy.
After the recent trip, which Rodman made with members of the Harlem Globetrotters and a film crew from HBO, the five-time NBA champion pronounced the totalitarian Kim to be a “friend.”
Think the whole thing funny? Consider this: It’s likely that Rodman and his entourage were the first Americans that Kim ever met. We can only hope that the leader, apparently a big basketball fan, understood that he wasn’t meeting your average U.S. citizen. Not at all.
We don’t need the unstable Kim to be remembering Rodman when he next considers the United States.
No harm, no foul?
If only.
The news that Dennis Rodman, former NBA star and perpetual whackjob, had traveled to North Korea, where he met with the isolated and repressive nation’s despotic leader, Kim Jong-Un, was a surprise only initially.
Dennis Rodman as diplomat? It just didn’t add up.
But after a moment, it all made perfect sense.
When bad-actor Rodman was in the NBA, one never knew what he’d be up to next. With young Kim heading North Korea, things are much the same.
Rodman, a hardhead on the hardwood, nicknamed “the Worm,” seemed often to crave attention more than anything else. So too with Kim and his father and grandfather, the only two prior leaders of the most isolated nation on the planet.
But there are clear differences, too. Rodman, for all his oddities, was very good at his job. Few, if any, would be willing to make similar claims for Kim. And Rodman, while frequently volatile, was dangerous only within proscribed boundaries. He may have been a hothead, but he didn’t have nuclear weapons.
Everyone knows Rodman as a shameless self-promoter who has long stuck his nose rings into other people’s business. He’s never been the world’s most-diplomatic guy.
After the recent trip, which Rodman made with members of the Harlem Globetrotters and a film crew from HBO, the five-time NBA champion pronounced the totalitarian Kim to be a “friend.”
Think the whole thing funny? Consider this: It’s likely that Rodman and his entourage were the first Americans that Kim ever met. We can only hope that the leader, apparently a big basketball fan, understood that he wasn’t meeting your average U.S. citizen. Not at all.
We don’t need the unstable Kim to be remembering Rodman when he next considers the United States.
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